Stuart J

First If you have not done it already check the cost of insuring a grey, you may need to add trackers etc & this will have to come into your budget, their is a thread entitled Insurance on the Scoobynet which may help.

As for fuel you should run it on as high an octane as possible if you intend to use the performance, running 95 octane & driving it even fairly hard could lead to melted pistons & sevearly overheated bank balance. Most people run on Super Unleaded & in many cases to get the best top up with octane booster. The highest Octane available at the pumps is Shell Optimax which is 98 Octane, many people seem to think this gives an extra couple of mpg which helps justify the extra cost.
I ran my STI on Super & then Optimax when it came out with no problems but am now adding Octane booster & the car definately runs sweeter.

I have had no problem getting any parts, general servicing bits are readily available & their are dealers scattered over the country who specialise in greys for the more specialised parts. Also their is always somebody on the Scoobynet who knows where you can get that elusive bit. Many parts like indicators etc are the same on UK models.
I have also found my STI with the exception of one major bill (caused by a **** tuning co) to be typically Subaru reliable
Also you will always find a few modified WRX's in the breakers yards, Ive seen a couple of quite lightly damaged write offs & have found this a good source for parts, Subaru parts are bloody expensive, even for UK Models.

With regard to the one you are looking at, as with all cars regardless of the dealers warranty, (some of which are not worth the paper they are written on as they exclude just about everything) try & find somebody who knows Subarus (not reckons they know) to look it over even if this costs £50 it may be worth it, shiny paintwork can easily hide big bills. Living in London you should have no trouble finding somebody, post on the Scoobynet & somebody will probably come out of the woodwork. The dealer may even let you take it to someone like Scoobysport (Basildon) to get it looked at, something as simple as an about to fail clutch, probably not covered by the warranty can cost several 100 pounds.

I was very sceptical about greys when I was looking but the STI came along at the right price. That was nearly 2 years ago & I still havent tired of the car & have absolutely no regrets

Good Luck

Stuart

Dont forget the check with HPI or the AA to see if it's nicked or a write off



[Edited by Stuart J - 6/1/2002 6:28:29 AM]

AliG

Hi I am a Newbie (as you can see) and I have just made several very copmrimising life deciscions the upshot of which allow me to be able to aford my first Scooby! (its all going to be worth while)

My first experiance of scoobys was an RB5 so a bit spoilt but have driven other Jap tubos and the like and it has to be a scooby so some decision help if you can please

Having about 6k-7k to spend puts me way down the bottom of the turbo ladder (or should that be Super Charger just kidding. I have looked at some high mileage uk examples and a couple of early WRXs. The Uk ones seem to be a bit down on torque on lower end and generaly not as tidy the Jap Car seemed a lot tidier was lower mileage went faster and had more gizmos (I know this seems pretty straight cut doesn't it).

But the problem is I have no knowlage of grey imports can anybody advise me on what its like mantaining them getting parts etc.

The Jap Car which I prefer had no service history but looked very clean was from a dealer who was getting it serviced and belts changed and offered a 12 month warranty. Its a 93 K WRX for £6995 what do you think? Also as this car is meant to have 240PS so ~236Bhp on 100RON I am guessing 230BHP or less on (&RON (can I run it sucessfully on 95?) so am I imaginining the difference?

sorry to ramble on for so long but as I am sure you can all understand (you already lucky *******s) I am a bit excited

would very much apreciate any advice

Alistair

chrisp

Just some obvious stuff :

Main Dealers arent "suppose" to supply parts or service them but there are plenty of specialist out there and all over the country.

If you have not seen the faq on the sidc site it worth a read as it questions loads of newbie questions :

www.sidc.co.uk/faq.htm

Insurance is more than a UK but you are buying a fast car. My UK turbo insurance went up 250 quid when I swapped to an import but my bhp went up 70bhp .

They run better on SUL or Optimax they older ones you may get away with NUL but I woudl advise anyone with a scooby UK or import to run SUL at least as you have brought a performance car and are paying the insurance and running costs so you may as well enjoy teh full performance and keep your engine in one piece .

cheers

chrisp

Katana

If I were you, I'd get a UK spec. Not for parts or anything, but the cost of insurance. I live in a good area (supposedly considering my neighbours are posh and old people, bring back that high wall so they can't come in!!), 24 years old with 4 years NCB, no points, family man and I'm paying almost 1 and a bit grand just for third party only.

Now Tony1979 is a couple of years younger than me and he gets third party fire and theft for much much less than me for his UK spec scooby.

The other fun part is, if you're under 25, not many import insurance specialist would touch you.

chrisp

Insurance wise mine is a few quid short of a grand (with exhaust mods and bits and pieces) for an RA import fully comp. Thats with 70% NCB and 32 years old in a good post code (I think). My 98 UK same details at 30 years old was £550. The import has gone up from 850 when I was 31 to 990 now.